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My Hope for “Free to Learn”

I feel a bit like the child in Hans Christian Anderson’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, who cried out, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all!” I imagine that some of you readers feel the same way.

All the world seems to believe that our coercive system of schooling is essential to children’s becoming educated. They believe it not because their own two eyes and common sense tell them it’s true, but because everyone says it’s true and therefore it must be. Many people don’t even think much about it; they just accept it as true. They may hate school themselves, but nevertheless assume school is necessary, like bad-tasting medicine. Never mind that bad-tasting medicine takes a second to swallow while forced schooling takes 11 to 13 years.

Nearly all political leaders espouse more forced schooling as the route to a better future. Philanthropists are working feverishly at making kids start school at ever-younger ages and making them spend more hours per day, days per year, and years of their lifetime there. The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child--with no acknowledgement of irony--proclaims that every child has the right to a compulsoryeducation. (If you don’t believe it, look at Item 7 here.) What a tortuous distortion of the concept of a human “right;” you have the right, which you can’t refuse, to be compelled to spend years in a setting where you must do just what you are told to do. Orwellian doublespeak in spades, but few people recognize it as such. We are so stuck on the idea that children must be forced to learn that we can’t even imagine that a child might be better off learning without being forced. (In its defense, I note that the UN Declaration also speaks of the child's right to play.)

But like the great majority who praised the Emperor’s fine new clothes, those who proclaim their belief in the value of forced schooling are uneasy, I think, in that belief. They “believe” it because everyone else claims to believe it, because it would seem stupid not to believe it, because there is some profit to be made for believing it, or because to stand against the crowd would be uncomfortable. But, at the same time, they find it hard to completely deny their own two eyes and common sense, and they find it hard to rationalize their beliefs about freedom and dignity with the belief that children should be denied these as they are in school. When I talk with advocates of coercive schooling in a way that allows them to set aside their defenses, I often find that just below the surface lies a bed of doubt. That gives me hope.

Since the publication of my new book, Free to Learn, many people have asked me why I wrote it and what I hope it will accomplish. I have qualms about writing here about my own book. I debated for a long time with myself about whether or not I should even mention it here, but I do so want the message to spread that I am overcoming those qualms. Of course, I am far from the first to cry out that the Emperor is naked on the issue of schooling. Indeed, many regular readers of this blog have been saying this longer than I, and in previous posts I have referenced such pioneering thinkers as A.S. Neill, John Holt, John Taylor Gatto, Sandra Dodd, and Daniel Greenberg. We need all such voices, and we need them to be heard. So, here goes…

At a local level, I hope that Free to Learn will give to those parents who can see that forced schooling is harming their children and disrupting their family life the courage to act on what they see. I hope, too, that families who are already taking a non-standard route in education will find the book useful as a tool to help convince their skeptical friends and relatives that what they are doing is not crazy. But my broadest hope is that the book will reach people who haven't previously given much thought to this whole question. I hope that the book will lead many people to think deeply about childhood, education, and schooling (and about the difference between education and schooling) and that this will help promote societal change in our ways of treating children.

The book’s central thesis is that children come into the world exquisitely designed, and strongly motivated, to educate themselves. They don’t need to be forced to learn; in fact, coercion undermines their natural desire to learn. What they do need is opportunity. My argument to society at large is that we need to stop thinking about educating children and start thinking about how to provide the conditions that maximize each child’s ability to educate himself or herself. That is what children are biologically designed to do, but to do it well they need conditions that are very, very different from the coercive, deprived conditions of our standard schools.

The book is not founded on abstract theory, philosophical speculation, or romantic idealism. It is founded on large bodies of empirical evidence. Some of the evidence comes from anthropologists’ observations of how children in pre-agricultural societies educated themselves. Some of it comes from research in our culture showing that children who are allowed to educate themselves and are provided the resources to do so learn very well what they need to know to become happy, productive, moral adult citizens. Some of it comes from the laboratories of research psychologists, who have studied children’s strong and effective drives to explore and understand the physical and social world around them. Some of it comes from research showing how the playful frame of mind is best for acquiring new ideas and skills and thinking creatively, and how play is the natural vehicle through which children practice the skills and values of their culture and learn how to get along with others, solve their own problems, regulate their emotions and impulses, and generally take control of their own lives. The book also documents the history of our coercive system of schooling; it shows how that system arose quite explicitly for purposes of indoctrination and obedience training, not for education as most of us think of it today. And further, the book documents the psychological damage that we are currently inflicting on children by depriving them of the freedom and play they need for healthy development.

The book brings all of these sources of evidence together to make the case that we can and should change our way of treating children, to a way that trusts them and takes their real needs and abilities into account. It also describes the environmental conditions that enable children to educate themselves well. These conditions include unlimited freedom to play and explore, access to the tools of the culture, access to adult experts, free age mixing among children and adolescents, and immersion in a stable, moral, caring local community. All of these can be provided at far less expense than what we spend on our prisonlike schools, if we put our minds to it.

I have seen many wonderful improvements in human rights in my years so far on earth. We have made great strides in recognizing the competence and rights of people regardless of race, gender, and sexual orientation. I hope now to see, in my remaining years, real progress in recognizing the competence and rights of children, for only when children grow up free can we hope for a society in which adults know fully how to handle freedom and the responsibilities that come with it. That’s why I wrote the book and why I will continue, as long as I am able, to promote these ideas.

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As always, I invite you to share here, in the comments section, your questions, thoughts, and challenges. This blog is a forum for discussion, and your comments and questions are valued and treated with respect by me and other readers. Please post them here rather than send them to me by private email. By putting them here, you share with other readers, not just with me. I read all comments and try to respond to all serious questions, if I feel I have something useful to say. Of course, if you have something to say that truly applies only to you and me, then send me an email.

I've been a human rights activist for a few years and I've never noticed that doublespeak you point out - the same process is at work in the UK government's promotion of 'Free Schools', which are run predominantly by capitalist entrepreneurs or religious organisations, and at least one has been promoted as having 'military discipline'... Really free, baby.

I just adore your suggestions for creating the conditions for significant learning: "unlimited freedom to play and explore, access to the tools of the culture, access to adult experts, free age mixing among children and adolescents, and immersion in a stable, moral, caring local community"

Sounds exactly right to me - but first the way people think about learning needs shifting somehow, the stubborn image of a school with high windows, a teacher at the front 'teaching' and 'us' sat in serried rows being 'taught'...

Bill, Free Schools are called Free Schools over here because they are 'free' from being run by the local council and can therefore choose how they run themselves, yet they still receive state funding, so they aren't private institutions. A free school could therefore be a military style academy or a Sudbury, Montessori or Steiner style establishment - 'free' or not so 'free'. The point is, 'free' is nothing to do with its teaching style. Free schools are not allowed to make a profit and it's also worth remembering that over here we call private schools 'public schools', so we have a history of naming things in ways that Americans might find strange.

My point exactly - the word 'free' is fully intended to imply the concept of freedom on behalf of a government which is ideologically driven to marketise education in UK. Doublespeak. In reality, these schools will be taken away from the purview of democratically accountable local authorities and given over to the interests of capital or religious ideology.

Orwell's point was that if we don't reclaim the shared metaphors of representation, then the institutions are lost to us and Big Brother's surveillance society is at hand. I watched The War on Kids yesterday - see Peter's comment above, I recommend everybody see this shocking film - and this just reinforces the point, underpinning the whole debate is the ongoing tension between freedom and control, democracy and authoritarianism. Our 'free' schools are just one part of that, but I maintain that the cynical use of the word 'free' undermines the intention of many commenting here who believe in genuine freedom to learn (which reminds me - Peter, where does Carl Rogers' 'Freedom to Learn' book fit in your worldview?).

Thomas, the book is not a paper version of the blog posts. It covers generally the same themes as the posts, but in a way that brings them together into a coherent, book-long argument, with full documentation. -Peter

It has never made much logical sense to compel schooling, as the rationale for compulsory school attendance is mostly to bring about learning, but it is well known that the unwilling can resist learning for the length of a lifetime. Children rather deserve to have their curiosity sparked and encouraged by voluntary learning programs of their choosing.

I have enjoyed reading your columns over the last few years. Now that I'm updating various bibliography pages on my personal website

When my child finally got in a free environment provided by Alpine Valley School, a Colorado Sudbury School, his learning really exploded. The difference was jaw dropping, stunning. We just returned from the Clearview Sudbury School in Texas where my son enjoyed a week of school while his regular school was on Spring Break. That's how well freedom works--kids want to be in this type of environment all the time because they love to learn when you set them free. After 5 wonderful years in Alpine Valley School, I can see that my son has taught himself so much more that is relevant than he would have "learned" in a conventional school. Children pay a huge opportunity cost in regular schools with wasted time on questionable curriculums. More importantly, their spirits, desire to learn, and passion for life can be crushed in regular schools. Please, if you see this happening with your children, consider alternatives like a Sudbury School. Thank you Peter. I look forward to reading your book which was mentioned at our last school community meeting.

We are Unschoolers and I so look forward to all of your posts! Thank you again for another thoughtful article about children and our need to TRUST in their abilities to learn on the OWN. As a former public school student and former public school teacher, I feel that is the hardest part: Getting past the preconceived notion that learning is a thing that happens at schools and trusting in our own children! My kids are 10 and 8 and we've been Unschoolers since the beginning. I am amazed every day at the things they know!

We are Unschoolers and I so look forward to all of your posts! Thank you again for another thoughtful article about children and our need to TRUST in their abilities to learn on the OWN. As a former public school student and former public school teacher, I feel that is the hardest part: Getting past the preconceived notion that learning is a thing that happens at schools and trusting in our own children! My kids are 10 and 8 and we've been Unschoolers since the beginning. I am amazed every day at the things they know!

I so wish we didn't have to have this discussion, still, 100+ years after Maria Montessori made these same points. I hope your book achieves your intended goals.

"Before elaborating any system of education, we must therefore create a favorable environment that will encourage the flowering of a child's natural gifts. All that is needed is to remove the obstacles. And this should be the basis of, and point of departure for, all future education." - Maria Montessori, The Secret of Childhood, 1936

I have ordered your book and look forward to reading it! I am a Montessori teacher and, like Lisa, see the clear connection between your findings and those of Maria Montessori. So, I have to ask -- what ARE your thoughts about Montessori education, Peter? You don't mention her in your list of educators (i.e., A.S. Neill, John Holt, etc.). For my own professional practice, present and future, I would so much appreciate to hear if and how you might make the connection between what you hope for the future of children and what we Montessorians are also striving for. Thank you!

Thank you for your references to Maria Montessori. I love the Montessori quote you give, Lisa. However, if it were me, I would end the statement earlier. The quote implies that more is going to be said. What she describes as the "point of departure" is what I would present as the whole system. Then, let each kid develop his or her education as he or she will, once you have removed the obstacles.

I am going to be brief here in trying to respond to your question, because I don't know enough for a full response. I made a note to myself some time ago to go back and read Montessori's writings and then try to look more systematically into the question of how the various Montessori schools interpret those ideas and put them into practice, but I haven't found time to do that yet. From what I have heard, mostly from parents who have had kids in Montessori schools and from Montessori teachers, the schools can vary considerably from one to another in the degree to which activities are really initiated freely by the child and the degree to which they are initiated by the teacher. There seems to be a view, at least in some Montessori schools, that some kinds of play, or some progressions of play, are better than others and that teachers therefore have a responsibility to play a role in choosing the play materials and guiding the play (which would reduce the degree to which it is actually fully play). Again, this may vary from school to school. My own work suggests that such adult involvement in children's play is not necessary and may make it difficult for kids who would choose a very different path from the others in the room. Also, as you know, Montessori schools generally go only through the early grades and don't entail the extensive age mixing between young children and adolescents that I see as a key component of the conditions that optimize young people's ability to educate themselves through their natural means. In my mind, the barriers that separate children of widely different ages from one another are among the barriers that must be removed to allow children's self-education instincts to operate maximally. - But please don't hesitate to tell me and other readers more about your views and your experiences with Montessori education. -Peter

I found your blog a few days ago and I've been hooked on it! I'm convinced that you're right, that children can learn for themselves at their own pace, finding things to be passionate about for themselves. I've thought for a long time that there is something very wrong with our education system and that I would home school my kids if I ever had any, but I never realised before that school is in effect just a child prison/babysitting service. You've put words and reasons to my beliefs. I used to look at my kitten and think how sad it was that God (through evolution) gave her every instinct and ability she needed to survive in this world, yet I had to go through years and years of stultifying, difficult educational certificate-gathering and yet still struggle at the end of it. I wonder if this is partially what Jesus was getting at when He said to take lessons from the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, which don't toil yet God looks after them.

I have a question that I haven't seen addressed anywhere yet. I was wondering what kind of impact a child's home life has on their ability to learn through play and exploration, and how could a democratic, Sudbury-style school respond to children who are disturbed somehow? I read somewhere that when a child acts out by bullying or hitting at Sudbury schools, they have to be excluded or expelled quite rapidly because so much of the school's ability to function relies on being able to trust the students. I'd imagine that the kinds of parents who send their kids to Sudbury and similar schools are the kinds of parents who are very engaged in their kid's lives, and very concerned about their emotional wellbeing. So the children who go there probably have little reason to lash out at others, or behave in very disruptive ways. But supposing the US government decided to phase out standard schools and replace them all with Sudburys? All American children would be at these schools. How can Sudbury schools respond to challenging children whose lives and behaviour are disrupted through poor parenting?

Thank you, Anonymous. The lillies of the field passage has always been one of my favorite Biblical passages. It emphasizes the idea that very often the most natural and in that sense easiest way is also the best way; that we don't need to worry as much as we often do about trying to control everything.

Concerning your question about children at Sudbury schools who act up: It is, in fact, very rare for a student to be expelled from a Sudbury school. The school has a democratic system for making rules and enforcing them, in which all students are involved. New students quite frequently violate rules or attempt in one way or another to bully, but the other students tell them that they can't do that in this community. Hearing this from your peers and from older kids is far more powerful than hearing it from adults. When someone persists in violating a rule they are brought up before the Judicial Committee (a jury) that includes students of all ages and one staff member. That group hears testimony, examines the evidence, judges guilt or innocence, and decides on an appropriate sentence. Only if a student fails over time to be influenced by the social pressure from other students and fails continuously to respect the school's legal procedure will the student be suspended, and then, if the student comes back and still fails to do these things, the next step may well be expulsion. But, as I said, this is rare. There have been some pretty "bad" kids who have come to the school, and the first thing they have to learn--primarily from the other kids-- is how to respect the other members of the community and respect the democratically made rules. In the process, they are also learning to respect themselves. Sudbury schools are, first and foremost, democratic moral communities. -- more in my book! -Peter

Hello Mr.Gray,
I'm an 11th grade student. I'm 16 years old and I am completely disgusted
with the educational system. I love learning I love reading but the idea that
I MUST read and MUST learn has caused me to decrease my personal study. I
have tried to keep up with your blogs and I really look forward to reading
your book. I would just like to say, you most definitely are supported by
students. Not just because many students belieeve school is boring, but I
honestly think that there is a solution to the chaotic hectic and
overwhelming requirement called school. I have learned more from personal
study and interactive discussion than I have with a lecture and homework
assignment. I must say, I had always been one of thsoe students who turned in
their work on time, obeyed the teacher, and spent hours doing homework. But,
I realized I was not learning, I was only being trained for school. The
things I did Would not benefit me in real life situations, unlike many of the
questions say. My question is, how can I impliment my learning style and
educational beliefs into my lifestyle without disrespecting my teachers or
failing? I want to be a journalist when I graduate, and I plant to write
about education and better inform the community about the problems with
sending their children to a place where there is no freedom. But, I want to
start now. Any reccomendations?
Thank you very much for your enlightening words Mr.Peter Gray.

Sonia, thank you for sharing these thoughts with us. In addition to my book, I would recommend the new book One Size Does Not Fit All, by Nikhil Goyal. Nikhil is just one year older than you and he writes, from a students' point of view, about why schooling as we know it today fails. He has decided to spend the next year or two, or longer, publicizing his views about school and working toward education revolution (he agrees with me that "reform" is not enough). After reading his book, you might even want to contact him.

I honestly think that a movement of young people, who themselves are public school students or very recently were, would be very powerful. I even think that many teachers would join them, because they too often feel trapped by the repressive system. I would love to see protests and marches by students, demanding basic human rights in school--much like the protests we have seen in the past demanding rights for African Americans, women, and, most recently, gays and lesbians. But the first step is that young people have to be able to put in words the frustrations and they feel and see that the cause lies not in some flaw in them but in the prison-like school system that attempts to control them.

You might also take a look at Cevin Soling's Handbook of Student Resistance, which you can download free here: http://www.thewaronkids.com. Cevin is an acclaimed film director, who created the film, The War on Kids, which you can also find at his website. In The War on Kids, Soling leads us through schools and prisons and makes us see the prison-like nature of schools, where students are deprived of what we Americans generally believe to be basic human rights. The Handbook describes actions that students can take to disrupt school processes and bring people's attention to the injustices. The Handbook is considered by people in the school establishment as dangerous, much as pamphlets created by abolitionists years ago were considered by southern slave holders to be dangerous. You may or may not find these tactics to fit your personality and preferred approach, but you might take a look at it. I would most strongly, however, urge you to reach out to other students. Maybe form a club in your school, of students who recognize their lack of freedom and are willing to talk about it and discuss possible ways to express grievances and work for change.

Concerning your own education, I would suggest doing what you can to pursue it. Mark Twain liked to say, "I never let schooling interfere with my education." It's harder to do that now than in Twain's day, because schools are so much more intrusive and powerful now than then. One approach might be to talk with any of your teachers who might be sympathetic and see if you can arrange a program of independent study, which you could do instead of or as part of one or more of your courses. Try to do the schoolwork that you feel you must do as efficiently as possible so as to leave time to pursue your own interests. Real education always involves pursuit of one's own interests.

I have tears in my eyes reading this, my heart is breaking for those children that are now suffering in the school system and have no escape. I was one of those children. My son was until i took him out just over a year ago and now him and his sister (not yet school age) are unschoolers. I wish i hadn't put him through it for almost 4 years, even knowing it was all wrong, i never did anything because i never knew i could. There is a lot of guilt but seeing him now, how happy he is and how capable he is and how much he is learning and mostly how much he loves to learn, is just wonderful. Knowing my daughter will never have to go through that, that she can be her own person and choose her own path and not be made to feel like she is a bad kid if she doesn't conform to what school want. She tried preschool for two months and then asked to leave saying she wanted to be able to play what she wanted, when she wanted, she had just turned four and she already knew. I took her out straight away.
Everything you say Peter is exactly what i feel, i always knew it when i was at school, i was one of the ones who rebelled against it, by secondary i did not engage in any of it and often walked out of school or didn't go. I only went to see my friends. I got away with it as i knew how to do enough to keep the teachers happy enough. I did no work for my GCSE's (I'm in the UK) but still passed 7 by guessing it all. The teachers hated me and i hated them, i couldn't wait to leave. School prevented me from learning and wanting to learn anything, even what i was interested in. It took me 8 years to want to think about learning anything again and then i found my passions and since then i have not stopped. I could see my son age 8 going the same way as me, i couldn't bear the thought of it, my amazing, curious little boy who wants to know about everything, beginning to reject everything, and being treated as though he was a bad kid and punished constantly for not doing his work.
I am looking forward to reading your book and sharing it with my family and friends who are supportive of what i am doing but i think still see it as child with the problem, not school. They can sort of understand taking a very unhappy child out but to not send my daughter at all they do not agree with. Hopefully they will see things differently as time goes on.
Thank you.

And Peter, have you contacted Ruby Lou, back here in Minnesota? I can only imagine the warm reminders it would bring to her and most in our society, if relationships were based on trust, between those whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life are still intact. Most kids contact with adults is in the prisoner guard relationship of school and their parents are the enforcers of this sick system. As a result, we have a country full of lonely people, of which my 75,000+ miles of hitch hiking rides with thousands of trusting strangers, has been a constant reminder. Today, most are fearful and distrustful of strangers, thanks to the media. Only positive experiences in real life can change that and such experiences are becoming more difficult.

I'm wondering if encouraging students to openly rebel against their school could be equated with me showing any resistance, in Marine boot camp in 1951. Actually, the drill instructors would've relished the opportunity to make it clear to the other 71 in our platoon, what the response would be, if any dared to even look cross eyed. I would expect schools to respond by even more tightening of the noose.

Actually, the military could easily be changed to doing helpful things, as the CCC did during the depression, where as schools are built on a false premise, with most of society believing, that education takes place in a cell.

When given 40 of the worst "hell raisers" in a Lansing, Mi. high school, to do whatever I wanted in 3 mo., one of my conclusions was that fighting the system had become some of their "claims to fame", their reason for going to school, knowing how easily they could infuriate their guards.

If school was a ship in icy waters with students trapped aboard by a sadistic society, it would seem an unwise waste of energy to try to sink the ship, when there is no other ship or land in sight. If united, the students could easily throw their guards overboard, but then what?

A teacher asked me what the difference is between summer vacation and unschooling. Summer vacation could be compared with a few months of R and R before returning to another tour in Afghanistan, where the military will tell you what to do.

Few can imagine the Framingham Sudbury or students having any freedom. I believe that until there is a movie starting with Ruby Lou and expanding with similar helpful, trusting relationships, to where those young people viewing it would say, "Wow, that is what I want to do and even their parents would see it!"-----until then, most who might abandon ship, would soon be pounding on the school door, begging to be let in again

Hey, if Ruby Lou is out there, I would love to hear from her. I wonder if her memories match mine. I don't know her last name; not sure if I ever did. We were kids together in a Minnesota town that, truly, no longer exists (the real Lake Wobegon)--Monterey, Minnesota, which has since merged with Triumph to form the town of Trimont. -Peter

Gray research is backed by a fresh perspective to the discourse: his work has focused on studying hunter-gather societies (old and new) and how the children in these groups learn. Not surprisingly, those children are allowed to continue to teach themselves in the same way very young children like my nephew James does- before we interrupt their self-education with our vision of what they need to know; what curriculum they need to cover; what tests they must pass in order to prove they know what we say they must know. They learn by playing freely.
Read more here:http://radiofreeschool.blogspot.ca/2013/03/peter-grays-free-to-learn-book-review.html

I just finished your book this afternoon (the last day of my two week spring break from teaching public Kindergarten). I have been a public K-2 teacher for 17 years in five different schools, and deeply conflicted about the work I do for the past three. I am also a mother of a three year old and a two year old. As you can infer, I did not question the system until I became a potential client instead of an employee. My three year old currently plays two mornings per week at an outdoor ed, child-centered program with bountiful gardens, trees to climb, a giant tortoise roaming, a bunny, and a hen. There had also been a pig but the neighbors complained. Children roam and choose activities of interest; provocations are set up based on children's interests in several areas. Snacks are set out for children to self-serve when they are hungry, not at one preset snacktime. It is a mixed age program for 2 1/2-5 year olds. I ache every day that my own students can not benefit from such an environment. Thank you for your book; it is serious food for thought regarding our family life choices for the near future.

We do live in a "playborhood" of townhouses,where most families are out if the weather is nice, though it is a bit restricted as kids mostly play in the street between everyone's garages. Not much of a natural environment.

After reading Leonard's column, I wondered if he could see our concern. Also, though I'm sure many discoveries have come through studies of mice and rats, I'm glad Peter jumped ship, for higher ground.

Another great one "Proof that love can overcome evil" in this mornings
Winona Daily News and can you equate Peter Gray's "Free to Learn"?
with your article?
My Hope for “Free to Learn”

This is Peter responding to a student in his blog
"You might also take a look at Cevin Soling's Handbook of Student Resistance, which you can download free here:http://www.thewaronkids.com. Cevin is an acclaimed film director, who created the film, The War on Kids, which you can also find at his website. In The War on Kids, Soling leads us through schools and prisons and makes us see the prison-like nature of schools, where students are deprived of what we Americans generally believe to be basic human rights. The Handbook describes actions that students can take to disrupt school processes and bring people's attention to the injustices. The Handbook is considered by people in the school establishment as dangerous, much as pamphlets created by abolitionists years ago were considered by southern slave holders to be dangerous. You may or may not find these tactics to fit your personality and preferred approach, but you might take a look at it. I would most strongly, however, urge you to reach out to other students. Maybe form a club in your school, of students who recognize their lack of freedom and are willing to talk about it and discuss possible ways to express grievances and work for change."

"Alex consistently defied me when I insisted that the length of one kilometre is greater then the length of one mile. Every other student in class accepted my lesson without argument, but your son refused to believe what I told him, offering such rebuttals as "You're lying to the class" and commanding other students to challenge my curriculum... Alex's actions show a blatant disregard for authority... In the future, Alex would be better off simply accepting my teachings without resistance".

In reading the url in the Winona Daily News of Leonard Pitts Jr's article that I recently posted here, I noticed local comments to the article by "Hive", a Community Columnist for the WDN and Leslie Hittner. Twelve years ago, when Les was the administrator at the Bluffview Montessori School and we asked to pick up their food waste, Les said "yes, it is the right thing to do", even though it cost the school more, in that schools pay a flat rate for rubbish removal, thus providing no incentive to reduce. One year ago Dwayne had a trial run with WSHS students putting just their food waste in our barrels, but gave up because there was such resistance. Except for WSU, because they have so much, that it freezes to the dumpster in winter and smells in summer, the tons of Winona school food waste go 75+ miles to a Wi. land fill. Last week Dr. Ray Faber brought environmental majors from St. Mary's U. to the farm, as he has for over 30 years. They see our hogs raised 100% on food waste. For 5 years we picked up food waste from SMU. The decision was made by the head buildings and grounds person. When he retired, his replacement saved money, by ending the program. Those that teach about the environment have no connection or control over what their institution does to destroy it. Last week a farmer from Ma. called as to how we handle food waste, in that Ma. is now banning food waste from landfills, just as many states ban yard and garden residue. I digress.

It would be great, if a sensitive, talented writer like Leonard Pitts Jr. and others, could see the school problem and write, sing or shout it.

What if... homeschooling kids were mentors to public schooling kids?
What if... homeschooling/unschooling parents were to mentor curriculum development/ share amazing cost-effective educational resources / develop school day structure for & with public schools?

We're new to homeschooling, but I think the single greatest thing it has given my son is down-time in a relaxing environment. At this very minute he is, on his own, watching & doing a computer programming tutorial online that he searched out & discovered on his own.

I was lucky enough to participate in a gt program when I was a kid called the Zenith program. It pulled us out of our classrooms, & let us do things like write plays, study mythology, do fun word & puzzles & problem solving. Essentially, it gave us 'opportunities' to discover how fun the learning process can be.

Homeschooling has let me create my own 'gt-ish' program for my son. (BTW, I believe EVERY child benefits from being exposed to challenging, fun learning but you have to give them lots of down time & let it be TOTALLY okay if that particular activity is not their cup of tea, they still benefit from having been exposed to it) Essentially, doing homeschooling has given us time to participate in a non-competitive math program (Math Counts based) led by a college student & with kids ages 7-15, a book-club, movie classics club, a creative writing class led by a local playwright, etc. and we are less active than most homeschooling parents because I am a single, work from home mom. The sky is totally the limit as far as all the amazing resources out there (on-line and with local homeschooling groups, & other homeschooling parents are such a wealth of creative knowledge! just wish I had started homeschooling earlier).

I've seen my son become calmer, happier, more confident in his learning (even though he was an honor student before) & voicing his opinion. The biggest thing though-- he seems very interested in learning again. I've been lucky enough to always love learning & have combined a love of science, art & nature ( http://artnaturescience.wordpress.com/ ) and am so glad to see my son rediscover his own love for learning and finding a voice in directing his own education. He just voiced an interest in starting a computer programming club with other kids & homeschooling gives us the time (and energy) to do that. Thanks for a great, thought provoking discussion. Will check out the book.

Thanks so much for your good work! I am a former "mobile therapist", employed by a private agency to work with kids in the school having difficulty with Attention Deficit Symptoms, compliance issues etc. I found that many of the students with whom I was assigned to work had justifiable reasons for their challenges, as they were assigned work like copying definitions, reading the worksheet and filling in the blanks etc. On one occasion, students in a classroom had to put their heads on their desks for a half hour as punishment.
Needless to say, I have discontinued this area of my practice, but am very much interested in helping these kids. Do you have any suggestions on how to start a child centered school? Is there anyone doing this type of "school planting"? Any help you could give would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Winona State University, originally the first teachers college West of the Ms. River is purposing a 22 million, state of the art teaching center, where master teachers will demonstrate the "cutting edge"-----? Peter,if such a group of professionals descended on the Framingham Sudbury School, with teachers from surrounding schools anxiously waiting behind one way glass,
to see how it's supposed to be, how would you expect the students to react to their efforts?

It is difficult for me to imagine this "center" encouraging participants to even read Holt, Gatto, Greenberg and your "Free to Learn". Have you or do you expect to be invited to speak to staff in a "straight school"? If they showed interest in "freedom", where, how would you suggest they start? Thanks, Dick

Dick, if the experiment you describe were to be tried, the results would be quite predictable. The students would bring those master teachers up, to the judicial committee, on charges of interfering with other people's activities and violating their rights to direct their own activities. Concerning your second question, I have not been invited to speak to the staff of a "straight school," but, in fact, many staff members from such schools have attended my talks and thanked me for them. A remarkable number of teachers in such schools are upset about what they are being required to do, and many are resigning or retiring early. i wish they would get together and take a united stand. That would at least be a start. -Peter

Peter, I've wondered for a while about public education and children with very high IQs. I was wondering if you have written anything about that, or know anything about the effects of public education on children rated as 'genius'. It's something I think about because I used to date a guy who was so intelligent and craftily manipulative in class as a boy that his teachers persuaded his parents to have his IQ tested. The score he received was 177. He had been enrolled in MENSA after his IQ was tested, but since he was more interested in being cool and socialising than being what he considered to be a MENSA geek, he ended his membership soon after. By the time I dated him, although he'd completed a tough course at university, he had failed one year of it and was kind of directionless - at the age of about 25 he was only just starting to pursue his two strongest passions/talents(both creative and expressive) as a career. His university course had had nothing to do with either of the big creative talents that he loved so much. He was full of self-doubt despite being brilliant and believed he was no longer nearly as intelligent as he'd been as a kid (even though he is still exceptionally clever and talented).

In another case, I dated a very intelligent guy whose father (now probably in his sixties, I'd imagine) had a 'genius' IQ, also 177. He was also known at his school as a bit of a rabble-rouser; if something mischievous happened, you could bet he was the ringleader. In the end he got involved in organised crime and is now serving a sentence for a very serious violent offence.

So that's two people whose potential was off the charts. I sometimes wonder why things didn't work out as people would have expected; if 13 years of boredom or frustration just caught up with them.

Do you have any theories on how traditional education might fail the exceptionally intelligent in particular, or are they just failed in the same ways other kids are failed by school but it hits them harder? Is it just pure coincidence that these two 'geniuses' who went through the public school system have been vastly less successful than they ought to have been? If you have any theories here I'd appreciate hearing them.

Mr Peter Gray,
Thank you for this book. I have looked forward to your blog with anticipation for a few years now and was delighted when I heard you had decided to write a book. I had many aha moments reading it, many times found myself nodding in agreement. I envision being able to hand it to folks who question my choice in letting my kids educate themselves in the same breath that they comment on how happy, bright, responsible, self directed, creative, those same kids are. Funny thing that....
Again, thank you.

Hi Peter,
Being WELL conditioned, as most of us have been, I would never have thought of your DEMOCRATIC solution. In a Sudbury visit, I assumed it would be mentioned that so and so is from such and such. (would master teacher PhD+ from Harvard, a little shock and awe help?). No staff would help this person round up and herd a group together and it wouldn't look professional for a master to be filmed, trying to make prisoners of enough kids, on which to show their expertise. However, there is the slight hope that the master might be shocked by the hollowness of their profession, in this "teachable moment". Dick

Peter, I see compulsory schooling as so perfectly self regulating, guaranteed to go nowhere, other than tighten, like a hangman's noose. Even if teachers could agree on a 180 to a Sudbury, there are more than 4 legs to the school stool. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, school boards, laws, liability, unending excuses and finger pointing.

Local papers just carried the story of 2 senior boys asking the school board, if seniors with good grades, parents permission, etc., could be allowed not only out of the building, but off school grounds, during their 30 minute lunch period. Board members pictured car loads of kids racing to and from the fast foods, accidents, memories of the schools private security member pulling his firearm on 2 students, who refused to leave the nearby Burger King, where they weren't supposed to be. Rural kids spend hrs. each day on the bus, leaving and arriving home in the dark, in winter. Where as I never ate a meal in school, we had 1 hr. and 20 min. for lunch, in the same system, with no limits on where or what we did. Their request was denied.

Tammy, glad your son is growing without schooling. Notice how many home/unschooling moms are former teachers. As with all recovering addicts, seems your chances of recovering are improved, by spending time with those that have made the break from the system.

Gatto said genius is as common as dirt. I don't believe the system discriminates between high and low IQ's, it crushes most with efficiency. Keep questioning, Dick

Peter-- and so I wrote the new, young President of WSU, suggesting he read your new book, along with your response to how Sudbury students would react to being used by master teachers, demonstrating how it's supposed to be. I invited him out, not expecting to hear from him, to walk where each of the school supt. for the 1986 and 94 middle school referendums had walked, on the 160 acres, 40 on this farm, that had been chosen over 40 sites, as the most suitable. Luckily both referendums lost and the next year they built a brick fort, down the road. The odds of a positive response from the President are similar to asking the Pope of a nation that is 99% Catholic, to support a 180.

However, for the sake of the millions that are crushed by this compulsory machine, lets be positive. One 40 acre piece would be ideal, with plenty of space, trout stream, hills to climb, adjoining this farm where many things are happening that they'd have free access to., a lake to bike to, an island town with the Ms. River passing by. Say this ideal scenario worked out and WSU wants to spread the good word, by really being on the "cutting edge".

In that few can imagine kids without formal schooling and Sudbury Valley students would demand to spend time behind the "one way glass", to decide whether or not to throw out the peeping toms and while it would seem that a universities support, could be compared with D Day, what are your thoughts?

Last summer, someone suggested I start such a place and if a little under 81, say only 68, with a new book in my pocket and connections, I'd do it, for the sake of the millions who would get the opposite reaction from telling their parents and school administrators, to GO TO HELL!!
Thanks, Dick

In my previous post, the 2 school superintendents eagerly walked with me on this farm, to view the potential site for a new prison, where as I'm viewing it as an ideal liberation site. Along with the essential food, water and shelter, we have almost totally eliminated freedom. It is difficult to allow freedom to the young, when surrounded by heavy traffic, deep, fast waters or the Bowery, where I've taken high school students late at night.

I like analogies.
Beef cows thrive on only grass, as do their calves. Immediately after birth, the cow establishes a bond by licking the calf dry with her sandpaper tongue. The calf is soon standing, nursing on demand, eating grass, exploring nearby, running full speed with a bunch of friends, but when the calf is hungry or the mother full or anxious, they call and reconnect. The calf grows rapidly under these healthy, natural conditions, until about 400 lbs., when most are shipped to a feed lot. The cow searches and calls for days, until she dries up. The industry factors in the "shrinkage", caused by the stress of shipping, sales barns, missing milk, mother, grass and the familiar freedom with friends. Crowded into a feed lot with thousands, the percentage of grain is gradually increased until on "full feed", a concentrate that would be deadly to start out on. Death rates of 12% are considered acceptable, where as I had a cow killed by lighting 2 wks. ago, the first in 50 yrs. raising cattle and the death of young range cattle is just as rare.

I recently read an interview with you in one of the (pretty prominent) magazines over here, in Poland. I don't know if they just translated it or if they actually interviewed you, but nonetheless I was happy to see it. Especially considering the cover of the magazine had a big "School is prison" title on it (which is what made me check it). I liked that fact that you didn't mince words, didn't try to "soften" your opinions for the public, but you said it straight out - yes, school is prison.

I think it's important for people over here to see things like this, because I'm in a country where homeschooling is extremely unpopular (I guess about a hundred children total are homeschooled?), unschooling is unheard of and school curriculum is probably even worse than in the US - you get about 14 subjects and you have to pass them all to graduate whether they're relevant to your future career or not. I can understand things like Polish and Maths being compulsory but Physics and Chemistry when nobody in my class is going to study these in college?

By high school all my classmates have learned to play the school game, better or worse. But I could see how at school they seemed to be constantly FURIOUS. They kept up a facade of niceness in front of the teachers (... mostly), but whenever we were left alone - it's a wonder they haven't murdered any of the teachers yet. And, while I don't have full insight into their family life, it always seemed like most of the family problems originated at school, at least for people with poorer grades, they talked how parents belittle them and don't seem to respect them as much because they don't do so well at school. And that's in a system where grades are mostly for show, because universities don't take them into account in application process. The only thing that matters is exam results and due to the way exams work here, their results rarely correlate with grades.

At any rate - I graduated today. I have suffered 12 years of prison and now I got a certificate to show for it.

Thank you, Luna. For those who are interested, here's a link to the cover story that Luna is referring to: http://www.uwazamrze.pl/temat/755797.html And, yes, they did interview me extensively for the story. The book, to my surprise, is generating lots of interest in both eastern and western Europe, and two Chinese companies have bought translation rights. There is much more international concern about educational oppression than I had anticipated! -Peter

Hi Luna--great post. Thanks for telling us about Peter stating the blunt truth. That message will have to be heard for years and from many directions, plus a palatable alternative; however, only 30 some years ago, we feared the compulsory schooling law here, but now homeschooling is legal in all states and many unschoolers fly under the radar. Hope you can find his book. If Peter had written "Free to Learn" about 60 years sooner I'd have read it and not wasted years searching for meaning in a system that was intentionally designed to control the masses, not to enlighten and expand horizons. Actually, I doubt many of those in the Teacher Training Ivory Towers knew or wanted to know, any more than those working at Auschwitz. Dick

Thanks. I actually bought the book today and knowing me, I'll probably finish it in one sitting. I just wish it was available in Polish, so my parents would be able to read it.

I don't spend much time reading articles on the internet in my native language, but when I tried looking for info on homeschooling/unschooling, it was very scarce. Even the PL Wikipedia article is very negative towards it. If you try to bring up examples of this in the USA, good luck, because USA is thought of as the "nation of idiots" over here anyway. Mention someone from the USA no going to school, wow, you're going to be laughed at.

Thank you so much for writing Free to Learn. I loved it. I was so excited to see it identified as a HOT new book at our library. I even had to place a hold so I could read it. I believe it will touch people's hearts and help make the world a better place.
Our children unschool. Part of my decision to take this path was because of the reading I did about Sudbury Valley. I can tell you my kids are happy. My little guy (6) often laughs in his sleep. He also enjoys spending hours every day telling stories with his dad and knows almost everthing there is to know about dinosaurs. My daughter (10) often goes to bed wondering how she will ever get to sleep because she is so excited about what she's going to be doing in the coming days. She loves spending time with friends and family. They play with children of multiple ages on a regular basis and are close as siblings. Most of their waking hours are spent playing. Yes, they learn, but in their own way and on their own time.
Thanks again for all your work!

Hi Peter, I am about half way through your wonderful book. I had a thought this morning about human play and culture. My theory is that the civil rights movement of the 1960's and the consequent cultural revolution leading into the 1970's was a result of the fact that the significant people in that movement were allowed to play more as children. You state in your book that children were allowed to play from the early 20th century up until the mid 1950's. I believe that the significant people in those movements from the 60's and 70's were in their 20's and early 30's during that time, so they would have been right in the middle of the period where children were allowed to play more freely. There was also great technical progress during that period. Since these achievements required imagination and creativity, I wonder if their childhood playfulness allowed them to retain those abilities into adulthood. If so, then the key to allow our culture to advance is very much dependent on how much we allow our children to play freely. If that's the case, then the issue of allowing children free play becomes a much more huge and vitally important problem. In other words, the future of our culture depends on us allowing our children to play freely. What do you think of that?

Dick, yes, I think this theory is probably correct. Long ago, the Dutch Historian Johan Huizinga (in the book Homo Ludens) developed this cultural theory. He presented historical evidence that cultural innovations have occurred most rapidly in those times and places where there was lots of opportunity for play (though his focus was more on adult play than on children's play). -Peter